A local affair

Nottingham Forest manager Dougie Freedman believes the ‘local talent’ within his ranks will be important in tomorrow night’s East Midlands derby.

Kelvin Wilson, Chris O’Grady, Ben Osborn and Tyler Walker were all raised locally and could feature against the Rams tomorrow night.

And Freedman hopes their understanding of the fixture could help combat what he says is a ‘very good’ Derby side.

The manager told Forest Player HD: “This is 11 v 11. This is Forest v Derby. This is as big as it can get around here. This is two younger managers trying to pit their wits against each other.

“It doesn’t matter how much money they’ve spent, or how much money they’re going to spend. I’ve got some local talent in my team and we know exactly what it means.

“Derby are probably as strong as anyone in this division. Johnson and Butterfield in the middle of the park, Chris Martin up top – Ince, we know, in any given moment can score a goal.

“We need to make sure we match them in terms of energy, commitment and spirit. We have been working in the last four or five months to make sure we pass, defend and press as a team, and that’s the key to winning this game.”

Freedman also hopes the match will be played out in good spirits, with his team keeping their cool in what can be a frantic fixture.

He said: “The gameplan will be there but I know what derbies are like – it can go out the window in five minutes. We need a very strong referee and to control what we can control and play our way.

“We’ve got to be disciplined in certain on and off-the-ball situations, and if we can do that and not have any misfortunes we will be very confident we can win this game.”